Damper and heating unit



i '5, 1950 B. s. KAGAN 2,516,702

DAMPER AND HEATING UNIT Filed Dec. 26, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet l 2 I 29- 1% FIG. I U 4..

4 E n n 27 m z a 26 25 26 T 29 :5 J INVENTOR BENJAMIN S. KAGAN A TTORNE Y July 25, 1950 B. s. KAGAN DAMPER AND HEATING UNIT 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 26, 1946 INVENTOR BENJAMIN S. KAGAN BY ATTORNEY July 25, 1950 B. s. KAGAN 2,516,702

DAMPER AND HEATING UNIT Filed Dec. 26, 1946 s Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR BENJAMIN S. KAGAN ATTORNEY Patented July 25, 1950 DAMPER AND HEATING UNIT Benjamin S.'Kagan, Rock Island, 111., assignor to American Machine and Metals, Inc., East Moline, Ill., a 'corporation of Delaware ApplicationDecember 26, 1946, Serial No. 718,573 I 3 Claims. (01. 98--38) The invention relates to the combination of a damper and heating unit permitting-air to be passed .through the heatingunit or to be bypassed around the heatingnnit.

There are manyapplications in which air is passed through a unit placed atthe entrance to a cabinet either to heator to refrigerate the contents of the cabinet. The unity is generally. held at theconstant temperature. Since it is often necessary to control the temperature of the air passing through the cabinet part of the air is drawn through the heating unit and part around the heating unit to secure a temperature between that of the unit and the ambient tempera ture. At certain stagesofthe process it may even benecessary to pass allof ,the air around the heating unit so. that only air atthe ambient temperatureis supplied to the material. The invention is illustrated by a particular application in which the air is heated although it will be understood thatthe same device could be used torefrigerate the air. .When such a unit is applied to drying laundry, hot air is drawn through the heating unitto evaporate the moisture in the clothes. Dampers are usually provided to guide the incoming air to the coils to heat it or to bypass the coil. I e r The loading opening must be at work level; therefore, the damper and heater must be placed at the top of the dryer. That puts them above the head. of the operator. Thedamper must be so designed that it can be moved by the operator who is standing infront of the machine and grasps the handle projecting to one side of the sliding damper without:binding.

The object of the present invention is to provide a combinedunit comprising a box containingheating coils partly'filling an inlet. opening and a damper,slidingover-the top ofthe box to optionally permit the. flow of air through that part of the inlet opening covered by the box or through that portion of the inlet opening outside of the bOX. I

A further object of the invention is to provide such a heating box in combination with two A further object of the invention is to provide a damper having correlated sections which may be moved without binding by a handle placed outside of the track on which the damper moves.

A further object of the invention is to provide such a sectional damper which may be moved without binding by a handle placed both outside of the track and below its level. I v f Fig. 1 shows a perspective of a damper heater applied to a common form of dryer.

Fig. 2 is a plan view showing the dampers'ections and the heater as they appear in a top view of the cabinet shown in Fig.1.

Fig, 3 is a vertical section drawn to an enlarged scale and taken through the damper and. heater and the adjacent portions of the cabinet parallel damper sections horizontally sliding toward or taken along line to the Fig. 2.

Fig. 4. also drawn to an enlarged scale is a vertical section through the damper and heater 4-4 in Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary top view of one section of thedamper together with the related portion of the cabinet drawn on enlarged scale.

Fig. 6 is an end view shown to an enlarged scale of one section of the damper taken along line 6-'-6 in Fig. 5.

In the drawings l indicates, generally, a heater of any desired type. 2 indicates, generally a sliding damper. 3 is one form of cabinetin'connec tion with which the heater and damper may be advantageously employed. The cabinet 3 may have a door 4 suitable for loading the products to be dried into the cabinet. The air is admitted to the cabinet through the large square opening 5 in the top of the cabinet and passes out through a duct 6' from the lower part'of the cabinet. It is immaterial for the purposes of the invention whether the airflow is created by a suction device connected with duct 6 or whether a blower within the'cabinet draws the air in through opening 5 and discharges it through the duct 6.

The heatergenerally indicated at I consists of heating coils'l supported in parallel walls-8. The heating medium, which in the form here illustrated may be'steam, enters through pipe ID and passes out through pipe ll after having passed throughthe coilsl. Two side Walls IZat right angles re the walls 8 cooperate to'forma vertical rectangular passage the upper end of which is front of the cabinet along line 33.ln

' directly below the damper. When air is drawn in at the top through the space circumscribed by the walls "8 and I2 "it passesover the heating coils, becomes heatedand passes on through the cabinet as hot air. The damper generally indicated at! consists of two sections I6, IT. Each of these sections consists of a sheet metal plate I8 having flanges l9 turned down along two opposite edges of the damper. The upper edge 20 of wall l2 extends above the bottom of the down-turned flanges l9. It will be clear by referring to Fig. 3 that when sections I 6, I! are in the positions shown air can enter through the top opening 5 into the cabinet 3 only through the heating coils. Accordingly, the cabinet is supplied entirely with hot air. When the two sections I6, I! are slid toward each other until the flanges [9 of the two sections abut in the center of the cabinet, they will completely shut off any flow of air through the heating coil, the air now passing around the heater. The top of cabinet 3 extends over the sections l6, I! to the edge 2| of the opening 5 in the top of the cabinet. This leaves spaces between the wall 12 and the edge 21 which permit air to be drawn into the cabinet when the damper has been moved to a position to close off the flow of air through the heater. Accordingly, it is evident that by sliding-the damper into a suitable position the cabinet mayeither be supplied entirely with cold air which bypasses the heater or entirely with hot air which passes through the heater, or such intermediate mixtures of hot and cold air as may be determined by the position of the damper.

It is found convenient to keep the movement of the two sections in step by a device which will cause one damper to be moved automatically when the outer damper is moved. Such a device is shown by the endless belt 25. This belt passes over idlers 26 supported on the top of the cabinet 3. l

The section I6 is attached to one side Of the endless belt at 21 and the section I! correspondingly on the other side of the belt at 28. A handle 29 is attached to one of the sections 16. Section 16 :is moved by grasping the handle 29 and the other'section will also be moved by the belt.

The cabinet shown in Fig. 3 is generally above the operators eye level so that it becomes necessary to extend the handle out toward the front and downward below the plane of the sections I6, I! as shown in Fig. 4 This may be accomplished by attaching a bar 24 to the section l6 and bending it outward and downward over the front of the cabinet as shown.

Referring to the top plan view, Fig. 2, it is obvious that as the handle 29 is moved to the right. there will be a tendency to turn the section around a, point in the vicinity of the attachment point 21. If the section I6 were directly supported at each end in a track 30 this would cause this section to bind. Reference to Fig. 4 will show that as the operator grasps handle 29 the weight of his hand will also tend to bind the section I6 in a vertical plane. The pressure of his hand will tend to push the section 16 downward against the horizontal flange 3! of the track 30 at the end of the section nearest the handle and similarly will cause the far end of the section to bind against the underside of the top of the cabinet.

To avoid this binding two projecting portions 33 of section 46 carry rollers 34 free to revolve on vertical studs 35 carried by the extension 33. Two other extensions 38 project from the endof the section l6 and are turned down at right angles. These sections carry horizontal studs 31 on which rollers 38 turn. Reference to Fig. 5 will indicate that this arrangement of at least two rollers revolving about a verticalstud and two rollers revolving about a horizontal stud at each end of section [6 will permit the section to be moved in tracks 30 without binding despite the fact that the handle 29 is placed far to one side of the center of the section and below the plane of the section.

In the operation of this device the heating fluid is passed through the coils I and air is drawn or forced out through the duct 6 passing in through the top opening 5. The door 4 is closed after the material to be dried has been placed in the cabinet 3. The handle 29 is laced so that the desired temperature is attained in the cabinet. Normally the handle will be moved to the extreme left in Fig. 2 at the start to give the maximum air temperature. The material, however, may require slow heating in which event the damper is moved to only partially open the flow of air through the heater 1 and to permit some air to flow through that part of opening 5 which is outside the heater box.

Very frequently at the conclusion of the drying period it is desired to pass cold air through the device. To accomplish this the handle 29 is moved toward the right in Fig. 2 and this causes the edges IQ of the opposed sections of the damper to abut preventing any flow of air through the heater and allowing the full capacity of the air moving device to be satisfied with cold air.

While the invention has been described as applied to a dryer in which moisture is to be evaporated, it will be obvious that the device will be equally suitable for use in refrigerating process in which the coils 1 carry a refrigerant and the dampers permit the flow of air over the refrigerator coils in one position and around the refrigerator coil box in their other positions.

WhatIclaim is:

1. In a cabinet extending upward from the floor beyond the level of the operators shoulder and having a rectangular air passage which extends up through the top of the cabinet and a non-binding damper-plate movable in a horizontal plane by means of a handle in front of the cabinet and below the level of the damper, in combination, a cabinet, a rectangular air passage in the cabinet extending through the top of the cabinet, horizontal ledges extending along two opposite sides of said passage, an additional ledge above each of said ledges and parallel thereto, a movable metal damper-plate extending across said passage, sections along opposite edges of said damper-plate turned downward into vertical planes proximate to the edges of said ledges, studs extending outward from said vertical sections into the spaces between said upper and lower ledges, rollers free to turn on said studs cooperating with said ledges to permit the damperplate to slide freely in a horizontal plane, a bar attached tothe damper and bent downward over the front of the cabinet, an operating handle attached to aid bar below the plane in which the plate moves.

2.. In a cabinet extending upward from the floor beyond the level of the operators shoulder and having a rectangular air passage which ex.- tends up through the top of the cabinet and a non-binding damper-plate movable in a horizontal plane by' means of a handle in front of the cabinet and below the level of the damper, in combination, a cabinet,. a rectangular airpassage in the cabinet extending through the top of the cabinet, horizontalledges extending along two'opposite' sides of said passage, an additional ledge above each of said ledges and parallel thereto, a movable metal damper-plate extending across said passage and punched along its opposite edges to form tabs some of which extend in the plane of the damper-plate into the space between the two ledges while the remaining tabs are turned downward into vertical panes proximate to the edges of said ledges, studs extending normal to each tab, rollers turning freely mounted on each stud to permit the damper-plate to roll freely upon said ledges and to guide it against the sides of said air passage to prevent binding, a bar attached to the damper-plate and bent downward over the front of the cabinet, an operating handle attached to said bar below the plane in which the plate moves.

3. In a cabinet extending upward from the floor beyond the level of the operators shoulder and having a rectangular air passage which extends up through the top of the cabinet and a non-binding damper-plate movable in a horizontal plane by means of a handle in front of the cabinet and below the level of the damper, in combination, a cabinet, a rectangular air passage in the cabinet extending through the top of the cabinet, horizontal ledges extending along two opposite sides of said passage, an additional ledge above each of said ledges and parallel thereto, a pair of movable metal damper-plates extending across said passage each plate being punched along its opposite edges to form tabs some of which extend in the plane of the damper-plates into the space between the two ledges while the remaining tabs are turned downward into vertical planes proximate to the edges of said ledges, studs extending normal to each tab, rollers turning freely mounted on each stud to permit the damper-plates to roll freely upon said ledges and to guide them against the sides of said passage to prevent binding, a bar attached to one of the damper-plates and bent downward over the front of the cabinet, an operating handle attached to said bar below the plane in which the plates move, wheels supported at opposite ends of the passage, an endless chain passing over said wheels, attachments between said chain and each plate so that movement of one plate by said handle will cause the remaining plate to move in cooperation to open or close said air passage.

BENJAMIN S. KAGAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 780,331 Fletcher Jan. 17, 1905 1,232,439 Spitzfaden July 3, 1917 1,536,548 Wolters et al. May 5, 1925 1,601,431 Ducasse Sept. 28, 1926 1,966,182 McCormick July 10, 1934 2,295,991 Goldthwaite Sept. 15, 1942 2,317,104 Moore Apr. 20, 1943 2,360,915 Vermilya Oct. 24, 1944 2,373,496 Paiste, Jr. Apr. 10, 1945 2,400,617 Wheller May 21, 1946 

